XVI INTRODUCTION. 



lirst name remains the really correct name according 

 to strict rule, althoiigii its use is gradually given up 

 by general consent for some newer name. Thus, in 

 these four couplets of names — Erica vulgaris and 

 Calluna vulgaris, Azalea procumhens and Loiseleuria 

 pwcumhens, Elodea canadensis and Anacharis Alsinas- 

 tnmi, Epipactis atroruhens and Epipactis ovalis — the 

 former of the two is the true and correct name, by 

 rule, while the latter is the name now conventionally 

 adopted among English botanists. In other instances, 

 the choice between two names is purely optional, 

 independently of rules, as between Fijrola uniflora and 

 Monesis grandijiora, Gna2:)halium dioicum and Anteimaria 

 dioica, Hyacinthus nonscriptus and Endtjmion nutans, 

 Polypodium alpestre and Pseiidathyrium Alpestre." 



According to this system the common blue hell 

 may be called indifferently and correctly Hyacinthus, 

 Scilla, Agraphis, or Endymion. In this and similar 

 cases it has been necessary for me to explain all the 

 names. The study of Botany would be simpler if 

 these were not unnecessarily multiplied, and incorrect 

 ones were discountenanced. 



In preparing my list I have consulted the standard 

 works that have been published on the British Flora 

 on the modern system of classification, viz., ' The 

 British Flora,' by Sir W. J. Hooker and Dr. Arnott; 

 ' Manual of British Botany,' by Professor Babington ; 



* Handbook of the British Flora,' by Mr. Bentham ; 



* Sowerby's English Botany,' 3rd ed., by Dr. Syme ; 

 and * The Student's Flora of the British Islands,' by 



